But the Zone 2 champions left Wainwright Recreation Complex one loss away from an early exit after falling to Bangor, 6-1, in the first round of the double-elimination tournament on Wednesday.
“I imagine we wanted a little revenge the way it ended (last year),” Bessey Motors coach Shane Slicer said. “But it’s the tournament and everybody’s pretty good. I don’t think we were too nervous or anxious about who we were playing. It was just that we have to play baseball.”
In a rematch of last year’s state championship — won by the Comrades — Bangor once again got the upperhand on Bessey Motors as Trevor DeLaite won a pitcher’s duel against Riley Chickering. DeLaite kept Bessey Motors off-balance throughout the game, limiting the zone champions one run on five hits, striking out eight.
“That’s a good pitcher,” Bessey Motors coach Shane Slicer said of Delaite. “We had our opportunities to score runs, but he’s a good pitcher for a reason. He doesn’t lose very often. They defended well. We defended well. It came down to them getting some timely hitting. We just didn’t get timely hitting and you have to take your hat off to the pitcher in that situation.”
Bessey Motors had its chances against the lefty, particularly in the seventh inning when it put runners on second and third with one out trailing 4-1. But DeLaite struck out pinch-hitter Blake Slicer looking and got Jake Spinhurn swinging for a third time to end the threat. Bessey Motors went hitless the rest of the way.
Matt Smith found the most success against DeLaite, going 2-for-4 with a pair of singles and the lone run. He came around to score in the second inning on an RBI groundout to second base by Aiden Heikkinen to cut Bangor’s lead to 2-1.
“I faced DeLaite last year in the same scenario,” Smith said. “He’s got a curveball and I know he uses that when he’s up. I knew I was going to get a curveball, so I just slapped it, really just a two-strike approach with both my hits today.”
Bessey Motors trailed from the get-go after the Comrades plated two runs in the top of the first off Chickering, who entered the state tournament a perfect 8-0 on the season. Sam Huston tripled to deep center to score DeLaite, and Huston touched home on an Andrew Hillier RBI single to left as Bangor lead 2-0 after a half-inning.
Johnny Cote provided some breathing room in the sixth on a two-run single to shallow center to score Peter Kemble and Kyle Stevenson.
“We started strong and then we got that big two-RBI single in the sixth and that helped us a great deal,” Bangor coach David Morris said. “It was just a matter of trying to grind them out a bit.”
Bangor added two more runs in the ninth without swinging the bat. Ben Crichton and DeLaite drew consecutive walks to end Chickering’s night after 137 pitches. Reliever Bailey West got Huston to fly out for the second out of the inning before walking three straight batters — two with the bases loaded.
“When you get in these tournaments you just try to get as many wins as you can to live another day,” Morris said. “We faced a great team. Riley Chickering’s a good pitcher. He threw a lot of pitches, kept us there, but Trevor DeLaite threw a great game and we had some good timely hitting. It was a good team win.”
Chickering went 8 1/3 innings, allowing six runs on seven hits, striking out four and walking five.
Bessey Motors will play Sebago in an elimination game at 11 a.m. Bangor draws Staples Crossing at 3 p.m. in the winner’s bracket.
“We still have a chance,” Slicer said. “That’s the thing we have to look forward to now. Tomorrow, we have to be a little more disciplined in our at-bats. We’re going to face a good pitcher. It’s always nice in a tournament situation to get the first win. It’s awful hard to come from the loser’s bracket, but it’s been done and we’re going to give it a go.”
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